Artiest op rolschaatsen 1875 - 1934

This is a drawing, presumably in pencil, by Isaac Israels. It's currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Isn't it wonderful how a few simple lines can conjure such a sense of movement? You can almost feel the speed of the roller skater. I love how Israels seems to be figuring things out as he goes, letting the lines overlap and intersect. It’s like he’s thinking with the pencil, allowing the process to dictate the form. The texture of the paper seems smooth. The pencil marks are delicate in some areas, almost tentative, and darker and more assertive in others. See that concentrated hatching above the skater? The physicality of the medium, the way the graphite sits on the paper, emphasizes the emotional experience of the artwork. You can sense the artist trying to capture a fleeting moment. This reminds me a little of Degas' drawings of dancers, where the focus is not on perfect representation but on capturing the essence of movement. Art is always a conversation, isn't it? A back-and-forth between artists across time. And what's so great about art is that it embraces ambiguity, inviting each of us to bring our own interpretations to the table.